An unexpected scenario unfolds to the embrassesment of Japan and terror of ISIS (RAR!)

[Zor]

In this scenario a most unexpected scenario happens as an alien transport fleet happens and sends down to earth 8,192 drop pods (half of which of which being slightly more bulky than the rest and have one hatch, the other half being slightly smaller and have two hatches on either side), half of which land in Japan and other half touch down in territories held by ISIS. From each of the smaller two hatched variety comes 32 soldiers, adding up to 131,072 soldiers in total. The surprising thing is that they come out bearing this flag...

...and pledge in formal Japanese their undying loyalty to the Imperial House of Yamato and the Empire of the Rising Sun. In the case of those that touch down in Japan they do so in white red trimmed dress uniforms bow before the sunburst flag stand at Parade Rest while their commanders ask politely for accommodations for their troops. In the case of those in ISIS controlled territory they do so while charging out in power armor with the express goal of the extermination of all ISIS forces.

The soldiers in question are human, half male and half female. Three quarters of them are Japanese and the rest are multi ethnic drawing from peoples around the world. Each soldier is has been vat grown and neurologically programmed to have a thorough understanding of Japanese culture, how to serve as elite soldiers and fanatically loyal to Japan, as well as AN UNSWERVING BELIEF THAT IT IS THE HIGHEST DISHONOR AND DISGRACE TO THEMSELVES AND THE EMPEROR TO ENGAGE IN RAPE, TORTURE AND THE DELIBERATE MASS MURDER OF CIVILIANS. Each soldier has three sets of clothing: the first being the aforementioned dress uniforms, a utilitarian work uniform and the suit of power armor.

Each suit of power armor weighs 250 kilograms, giving the user ten times their regular strength. Each is powered by an internal high density power cell allowing 36 hours continuous use before requiring a recharge. Each powersuit has a number of stylistic features (most pronounced in the helmet with menpo, chestpiece, arm plating and tassets) which are reminiscent of Samurai Armor. It is rated against small arms fire. Each suit has a built in sensor suite, communications gear, translation software, biological monitoring systems and water dispenser.

• JIKI Assault: A bullpup Gauss assault rifle firing 9 gram 6.5mm steel projectiles at 2km/s. 600 RMP with 3 round burst fire, 60 round magazine, weighs 7.2 kilograms. Each has a 40mm grenade launcher attached standard. Five people in the standard 8 trooper squad has these, including squad leader, rocketeers and morter crews. Has a bayonet lug. Each JIKI series weapon has device in place in their grip which means that they can only be fired if in the hands of one of their powersuits.
• JIKI SAW: A belt fed fully automatic version of the JIKI rifle firing the same ammo. 800 RMP, Standard box magazine carries 250 rounds, weighs 12.8 kilograms. Two per squad. Has a bayonet lug.
• JIKI Sniper: A long ranged semi automatic gauss sniper rifle firing 8mm 12 gram steel projectiles at 3km/s. 20 round magazine, weighs 8.5 kilograms. One per squad. Has a bayonet lug.
• JIKI Pistol: A semi automatic gauss pistol firing 5mm 2 gram steel projectiles at 1km/s. 30 round mag, weighs 1 kilogram. Standard sidearm.
• Stunner: an electrolaser able to incapacitating a human being at 30 meters.
• Frag Grenades: twice as heavy and powerful as regular frag grenades.
• Rocket Launcher: A re-loadable 60mm multifuction rocket launcher able to serve as both a MANPAD and as an anti-tank rocket launcher (able to burn through 750mm of steel armor). One per squad.
• Katana: A 70cm long Katana made from high end molecular composites with a monomolecular blade for close quarters work.
• Bayonet: a similar 20cm long bayonet.
• Mortar: Every 32 man platoon has a two man mortar team. Each mortar team has a mortar. Said mortar is 120mm and has a maximum range of 10km. Its weapons can fire both conventional shells, laser guided shells and seeker shells.
• Yokai: For every seven platoons of regular power armored infantry there is one platoon of Yokai assault mechs. Each Yokai is 4.5 meters tall humanoid form, weighs 6 tonnes, heavily armored is piloted rather than worn. It is outfitted with an arm mounted 8mm gauss machine guns firing 12 gram projectiles at 3km/s, a belt fed 40mm grenade launcher and either four rocket launchers comparable to those carried by infantry or a self loading version of the mortar. Carries a 1.5 meter long upscaled version of the Katana.

The slightly larger drop pods contain power generators and space power cells for the suits, spare parts for weapons and suits, fabricators to make more ammunition and propaganda mangas, food, medical supplies and a pair of one tonne INU unmanned logistical trucks per pod. Those that touched down in japan contain some ammo, power generators and supplies, but mostly contain fabrication equipment to mass produce these weapons and equipment.

What happens?

Zor

[Borgholio]

Well first the immediate impact - ISIS takes heavy casualties as advanced power-armor equipped Japanese soldiers eradicate any ISIS fighters in the area. Long term depends on what Japan wants to do and how other countries react. In their current state of mind, Japan is not quite yet ready to engage in offensive operations in other countries. They're headed in that direction but they're still dealing with the cultural fallout of WW-2 so they would probably want to recall the troops fighting ISIS and bring them home.

Now with that being said, you'll have 130k soldiers with advanced weapons and armor who are available to the Japanese. I don't know what they would do with those troops...they're not urgently needed anywhere and they would have to be paid and housed. They could be used as reserve troops or to help bolster allied deployments such as in South Korea. However, Japan also has advanced power generation and manufacturing technology dropped right into their laps. Japan would, despite their feelings on war, will immediately make use of this technology to help in their current rearmament programs.

I can see nations such as China and North Korea shitting bricks over this. Japan is currently rearming to help ensure their security in the area but this would immediately propel them to a higher threat level and could potentially destabilize the region.

[Solauren]

There would be some short term economic instability in Japan. Relocated all those soldiers, housing them, etc, costs money.

Japanese politics gets thrown into chaos for a while. The Japanese have long memories, and there are still living citizens that remember WW2 and it's aftermath, and their children feel it nearly as much as the parents do. Grandchildren and great-grand children, not so much.

However, things would calm down when it's discovered how obedient the soldiers are, and that the Japanese Government has no interest in starting more wars.

Japan and it's allies will end up getting a tech boost, and this would cause a jump-start of the world economy. I'm sure the alien-tech would be studied, and there would be a lot of technological spin offs.

On a global stage, we could see a resurgence of something resembling the USSR in response to Japan and it's allies having access to this kind of technology and firepower.

North Korea might decide to do something stupid. This would result in the end of North Korea (or at least it's current government) in short order. Either China says 'No', and takes over the country, putting a puppet regime in charge and starting a reunification drive with South Korea (so that the Chinese don't have to deal with them), or Japan going 'no' and flattening North Korea with their new super-army.

Longer-term, this could act like a stabilizing force in World Politics. Anyone that is not a Japanese ally would be incredibly stupid to try to obtain this technology illegally. It would be damn obvious where and how they got it. The possible blow back, especially if Japan and it's allies have decided 'only we can have this for now', would probably involve the collapse/occupation of the offending country.

[Simon_Jester]

...and pledge in formal Japanese their undying loyalty to the Imperial House of Yamato and the Empire of the Rising Sun. In the case of those that touch down in Japan they do so in white red trimmed dress uniforms bow before the sunburst flag stand at Parade Rest while their commanders ask politely for accommodations for their troops. In the case of those in ISIS controlled territory they do so while charging out in power armor with the express goal of the extermination of all ISIS forces.

Exactly how do they identify ISIS forces? Do they just wait for ISIS soldiers to pick up guns and attack them? How are they going to hunt down any ISIS forces sensible enough to put down their weapons, in a place where they know literally nobody, and where their ability to resupply hinges on being able to seize raw materials and operate factory equipment in a war zone?

The soldiers in question are human, half male and half female. Three quarters of them are Japanese and the rest are multi ethnic drawing from peoples around the world. Each soldier is has been vat grown and neurologically programmed to have a thorough understanding of Japanese culture, how to serve as elite soldiers and fanatically loyal to Japan, as well as AN UNSWERVING BELIEF THAT IT IS THE HIGHEST DISHONOR AND DISGRACE TO THEMSELVES AND THE EMPEROR TO ENGAGE IN RAPE, TORTURE AND THE DELIBERATE MASS MURDER OF CIVILIANS. Each soldier has three sets of clothing: the first being the aforementioned dress uniforms, a utilitarian work uniform and the suit of power armor.

So... they're imaginary 'Japanese' soldiers not historical Japanese soldiers.

Each suit has a built in sensor suite, communications gear, translation software, biological monitoring systems and water dispenser.

Where and how do they recharge? I assume they're smart enough to operate in shifts so they don't all run low on power simultaneously. Also, wow that translator software is going to get a hard workout. Hope it's effective.

• JIKI Assault: A bullpup Gauss assault rifle firing 9 gram 6.5mm steel projectiles at 2km/s. 600 RMP with 3 round burst fire, 60 round magazine, weighs 7.2 kilograms. Each has a 40mm grenade launcher attached standard. Five people in the standard 8 trooper squad has these, including squad leader, rocketeers and morter crews. Has a bayonet lug. Each JIKI series weapon has device in place in their grip which means that they can only be fired if in the hands of one of their powersuits.

Weapon is unnecessarily heavy for the stated purpose; they'd have done better to bring something that fires lighter or lower velocity ammunition so they could carry more of it (or use up less power accelerating the rounds, also translating into 'carry more' in effect).

[*]JIKI SAW: A belt fed fully automatic version of the JIKI rifle firing the same ammo. 800 RMP, Standard box magazine carries 250 rounds, weighs 12.8 kilograms. Two per squad. Has a bayonet lug.

Given how strong and tough these power suits are a bayonet is rather redundant; they can tear normal humans apart and are effectively armored in hand to hand combat. I'd skip the bayonets, especially on a SAW which almost by definition is supposed to be laid down in a fixed position and fired to cover an advance. Just give the troops a few boxing classes so they can throw a well-coordinated punch, and that's good enough.

[*]Frag Grenades: twice as heavy and powerful as regular frag grenades.

What's a "regular frag grenade?"

[*]Rocket Launcher: A re-loadable 60mm multifuction rocket launcher able to serve as both a MANPAD and as an anti-tank rocket launcher (able to burn through 750mm of steel armor). One per squad.

Does that mean the anti-air rockets have fully autonomous guidance? Or does the launcher just have a useless suite of sensors for spotting flying targets that won't be helpful in ground combat? Also note they're fighting an enemy with little or no air power; why bother even bringing SAMs to be dispersed at the squad level? Air defense is normally done at a higher and more coordinated level than that.

[*]Katana: A 70cm long Katana made from high end molecular composites with a monomolecular blade for close quarters work.

I thought you said they had bayonets. Why the hell would they have or need both? Besides, the sword is likely to be unwieldy in a lot of the same situations where you'd use the bayonet (or, more sensibly, knock people into walls with the muzzle of the gun)

[*]Mortar: Every 32 man platoon has a two man mortar team. Each mortar team has a mortar. Said mortar is 120mm and has a maximum range of 10km. Its weapons can fire both conventional shells, laser guided shells and seeker shells.

I'd normally favor grouping mortars into batteries controlled at the company or battalion level, frankly, but that is a relative nitpick.

[*]Yokai: For every seven platoons of regular power armored infantry there is one platoon of Yokai assault mechs. Each Yokai is 4.5 meters tall humanoid form, weighs 6 tonnes, heavily armored is piloted rather than worn. It is outfitted with an arm mounted 8mm gauss machine guns firing 12 gram projectiles at 3km/s, a belt fed 40mm grenade launcher and either four rocket launchers comparable to those carried by infantry or a self loading version of the mortar. Carries a 1.5 meter long upscaled version of the Katana.

Exactly what would it be using the sword for, or on?

More generally, wouldn't it make some sense to put one of the machine guns on a controllable pintle mount? Mounting the guns fixed to arms has some advantages (easy to hook it up to a big box of ammo), but it also drastically limits the 'mech's arc of fire; it cannot engage targets outside its frontal arc without turning around and exposing its back armor, which is presumably lighter.

The slightly larger drop pods contain power generators and space power cells for the suits, spare parts for weapons and suits, fabricators to make more ammunition and propaganda mangas, food, medical supplies and a pair of one tonne INU unmanned logistical trucks per pod. Those that touched down in japan contain some ammo, power generators and supplies, but mostly contain fabrication equipment to mass produce these weapons and equipment.

What happens?

Zor

Depends. I suspect the troops landing in the Middle East start running into major problems with equipment shortages, armor breaking down, and so on, well before they manage to subdue ISIS. They're heavily armed, and they are better equipped for counterinsurgency than Western troops today (every trooper's translator lets them at least haltingly speak the local language, they have nonlethal options at close range, and their armor lets them be more confident about surviving an ambush or when dealing with armed locals). But the logistics is going to be a bear.

[Joun_Lord]

AN UNSWERVING BELIEF THAT IT IS THE HIGHEST DISHONOR AND DISGRACE TO THEMSELVES AND THE EMPEROR TO ENGAGE IN RAPE, TORTURE AND THE DELIBERATE MASS MURDER OF CIVILIANS.

That seems like a bit of a cop-out. Soldiers from the Empire of Japanistan but without the horrific murder, rape, more rape, still more rape, torture, genocide, did I mention the rape, and just general dickery.

It would be like Space Nazi soldiers kitted out like Kerberos Panzer Cop showing up loyal to the 3rd Reich and Shitler but without the genocidal tendencies practiced by the original assholes just because. It just doesn't make alot of sense for them to be loyal to a regime and person who were more then okay with the terrifying things done in their name but not doing those things.

More realistically the Space Japanese mecha soldiers show up, kill fuck ISIS (probably using their multi-ethnic cannon fodder slave soldiers as cannon fodder) then start literally fucking all the Iraqi, Kurd, and slave women or as they put it us them for "comfort women". Then they start trying to invade all the surrounding countries and probably piss off the international community enough into fighting them.

The real question is whether or not Japan would accept these walking raping reminders of their rapey past. Or how these Imperialistic dickholes would handle the barely armed, weird anime obsessed, and probably dishonorable in their douchey samurai "killing children you ripped out of their mothers wombs and raping their still bleeding mothers is honorable" code.

Certainly wouldn't be happy with the US bombing Japan with nukes and stripping Hirohito of most of his power (though sadly not all of it) killing the Empire they swear allegiance to. So we'd probably have a war between the Empire dudes and America with possibly Japan proper joining in once the Space Soldiers put ultranationalists in power and the American's can't even use racist slang and Disney cartoons to motivate themselves.

[Zor]

So... they're imaginary 'Japanese' soldiers not historical Japanese soldiers.

Yes, they don't correspond directly to the IJA. I thought the Power Armor would have given it away.

More realistically

And your argument died right there.

Zor

[Simon_Jester]

Zor, that was a sarcastic one-liner, not a response.

Honestly, I think anyone who regularly adopts a Japanophile stance on things needs to come to terms with just how nasty the Japanese were back in their "fight and die for the divine Emperor" days.

On the other hand, you did explicitly choose to discuss such... whitewashed... artificially cloned and indoctrinated pseudo-Japanese, not 'real' ones.

Which is why I asked you a bunch of questions about logistics, equipment, and doctrine... did you plan to answer those?

[Joun_Lord]

And your argument died right there.

Possibly, but your scenario died before that. Its a zombie scenario. And AMC will make a tv series about it that has a good first season, a terrible second season, and some meh later seasons that I long stopped watching.

Your scenario where Imperial Japan soldier, even space ones, are hugs and kisses gentles souls is akin to creating a scenario where the central part of it is fire cools iced tea. It makes no sense. Fire does not cool iced tea (nor make it taste good but then there is no scenario no matter how unpossible that can do that) and the soldiers of Imperial Japanistan be they on Earth or Space would most certainly not be people who gives even the slightest care for human lives or have even the slightest problem with mass rape and murder.

To echo my earlier sentiment, its like trying to make the fracking Nazis into good guys while still having them jack off to the Turd Reich and Hitler. At the very core of the Nazi way and Hitler is death, destruction, and Hugo Boss, there is no way to divorce those things from the belief system while still glorifying the progenitors of it. Much the same its impossible to divorce the systematic rape and murder from Imperial Japan and Hirohito considering thats all they were about.

You cannot have soldiers worshiping Hirohito and serving Imperial Japan without the bad. Like those creepy conjoined twins on the Discovery Channel, they are inseparable.

[Zor]

Where and how do they recharge? I assume they're smart enough to operate in shifts so they don't all run low on power simultaneously. Also, wow that translator software is going to get a hard workout. Hope it's effective.

The power cells can be swapped out and can be recharged either in the supply landers or from local power grids, though this takes longer. They do work in shifts. Each power cell is a cylinder 10cm wide and 20cm long weighing about 12 kilos.

Weapon is unnecessarily heavy for the stated purpose; they'd have done better to bring something that fires lighter or lower velocity ammunition so they could carry more of it (or use up less power accelerating the rounds, also translating into 'carry more' in effect).

Weight is less of an issue for soldiers clad in powered armor.

Given how strong and tough these power suits are a bayonet is rather redundant; they can tear normal humans apart and are effectively armored in hand to hand combat. I'd skip the bayonets, especially on a SAW which almost by definition is supposed to be laid down in a fixed position and fired to cover an advance. Just give the troops a few boxing classes so they can throw a well-coordinated punch, and that's good enough.

The bayonet is a bit of a reference to the old japanese rule that every infantry scaled weapon with a long barrel must have a bayonet lug

What's a "regular frag grenade?"

The sort in use by most modern armies.

Does that mean the anti-air rockets have fully autonomous guidance? Or does the launcher just have a useless suite of sensors for spotting flying targets that won't be helpful in ground combat?

The rocket has a guidance system which can be turned on or off at need, the suits have sensors which interface with the launcher which can be used for detecting aircraft. They are kind of overkill against ISIS, but japan might have use for them latter on.

I thought you said they had bayonets. Why the hell would they have or need both? Besides, the sword is likely to be unwieldy in a lot of the same situations where you'd use the bayonet (or, more sensibly, knock people into walls with the muzzle of the gun)

They don't, but there is a certain stylistic novelty.

I'd normally favor grouping mortars into batteries controlled at the company or battalion level, frankly, but that is a relative nitpick.

Fair Enough.

Exactly what would it be using the sword for, or on?

Things that need a good chopping.

More generally, wouldn't it make some sense to put one of the machine guns on a controllable pintle mount? Mounting the guns fixed to arms has some advantages (easy to hook it up to a big box of ammo), but it also drastically limits the 'mech's arc of fire; it cannot engage targets outside its frontal arc without turning around and exposing its back armor, which is presumably lighter.

The arms are capable of rotating in their sockets 360 degrees and have a coaxial camera.

Zor

[Simon_Jester]

Where and how do they recharge? I assume they're smart enough to operate in shifts so they don't all run low on power simultaneously. Also, wow that translator software is going to get a hard workout. Hope it's effective.

The power cells can be swapped out and can be recharged either in the supply landers or from local power grids, though this takes longer. They do work in shifts. Each power cell is a cylinder 10cm wide and 20cm long weighing about 12 kilos.

Local grid power is unreliable, but it is important to remember that they need to maintain security and a safe perimeter around their drop pods while power cells are continuously recharged; otherwise insurgents with rockets or mortars may start shelling the drop pods and they need those intact.

Weapon is unnecessarily heavy for the stated purpose; they'd have done better to bring something that fires lighter or lower velocity ammunition so they could carry more of it (or use up less power accelerating the rounds, also translating into 'carry more' in effect).

Weight is less of an issue for soldiers clad in powered armor.

Being able to carry 2X rounds is always better than carrying X rounds. Automatic weapons ammunition is always an issue for infantry, because an automatic weapon can go through a magazine in seconds of firing. As far as I can tell, there is almost no situation where a sane soldier, equipped with one of your rifles to fight a bunch of light infantry, wouldn't want to compromise on hitting power to increase ammunition capacity.

Given how strong and tough these power suits are a bayonet is rather redundant; they can tear normal humans apart and are effectively armored in hand to hand combat. I'd skip the bayonets, especially on a SAW which almost by definition is supposed to be laid down in a fixed position and fired to cover an advance. Just give the troops a few boxing classes so they can throw a well-coordinated punch, and that's good enough.

The bayonet is a bit of a reference to the old japanese rule that every infantry scaled weapon with a long barrel must have a bayonet lug

So the equipment designs are deliberately impractical and everyone knows it, or do the people using them actually believe them to be practical?

What's a "regular frag grenade?"

The sort in use by most modern armies.

Be specific, then. Also, you might want to reconsider whether doubling their power is useful compared to being able to carry, say, 20% more of the things. We could make grenades heavier in real life, they're only a small proportion of a soldier's overall load, but we don't. Because at some point the lethal radius is high enough for most applications a grenade is being used for.

I thought you said they had bayonets. Why the hell would they have or need both? Besides, the sword is likely to be unwieldy in a lot of the same situations where you'd use the bayonet (or, more sensibly, knock people into walls with the muzzle of the gun)

They don't, but there is a certain stylistic novelty.

So they're cluttering up themselves with extra weapons they don't have a use for? Remember, even if weight isn't an issue, space is; a sword takes up space and has to be positioned somewhere the user can get their hands on it when needed. A sword hanging from the hip is cumbersome for soldiers who have to be crowded into buildings or AFVs, a sword on the back will probably be impossible to draw in power armor because you have to reach behind your head and power armor will wind up restricting your range of motion.

Exactly what would it be using the sword for, or on?

Things that need a good chopping.

That's not an answer.

When do you expect these to be useful in a situation where having the robot shoot something or push something with its hands wouldn't be?

More generally, wouldn't it make some sense to put one of the machine guns on a controllable pintle mount? Mounting the guns fixed to arms has some advantages (easy to hook it up to a big box of ammo), but it also drastically limits the 'mech's arc of fire; it cannot engage targets outside its frontal arc without turning around and exposing its back armor, which is presumably lighter.

The arms are capable of rotating in their sockets 360 degrees and have a coaxial camera.

Useful. Might want to mention such capabilities first next time.

[APlayerHater]

The way I see it the US and China will instantly try to take control of these supersoldiers and their advanced technology.

US troops will move into ISIS territory and try to capture these weapons for scientific study, trying to beat the Russians there.

At the same time the US will try to shore up Japans defenses by radically increasing the number of troops stationed on US bases. The US will put heavy political pressure on Japan to surrender the supersoldiers willingly- while at the same time trying to use spies and covert operatives to try to abduct the clones or steal the technology.

China will deploy ships to try to embargo Japan and take control of these supersoldiers, leading to border skirmishes with the US.

And I see things escalating dangerously at that point. This could lead to war or a treaty to distribute these soldiers and their tech between the superpowers evenly. Japan could get cut up into east/west/etc territories.

[Simon_Jester]

Modern Japan is a relatively peaceable country; maybe they would voluntarily sell a fair amount of this technology? Or start mass-producing it for sale themselves?

[APlayerHater]

Somehow I don't see America, China and Russia letting Japan keep this advanced alien technology for themselves. The US in particular is a very important... Let's call them ally, of Japan.

Everybody's going to want that power armor/alien generator/mech suit/replicator/gaussgun/translation/cloning technology. No one is going to just let them keep it.

[Simon_Jester]

Japan is not a tiny little postage stamp that you can casually push around; they have one of the highest national GDPs in the world, and a modern military even before you factor in the sudden pile of supersoldiers. Also, the modern world order doesn't work on the basis of powerful countries randomly attacking and threatening each other rather than "let them keep" some kind of advantage.

It works on the basis of trade and mutually profitable interaction among the great powers, which said great powers have pretty much decided is better for everyone than the risk of nuclear war.

In Japan's case, this actually helps them resolve a serious economic problem they have, which is that their economy is basically stagnant while their population is getting older rapidly, with a very low birth rate. The increased economic efficiency and benefits they gain from exporting this advanced technology are very significant... assuming any of the Shogunate!Clonetroopers actually know how it works and it's not just magical mystery weapons to them.

[AniThyng]

I'd think this would really bring Japan's right wing tendencies to the fore though...

[Simon_Jester]

To be fair, it might- Japan backsliding towards its warlike loony self is at least on the table.

But Japan passively being bullied or mindlessly hoarding the "PRECIOUS TECHNOLOGY" isn't, because that's not how modern countries actually work.

[APlayerHater]

The US hoarded stealth technology for decades, and that's far less of a game changer than the entire revolution dropped in Japan's lap.

Never mind that this is also alien technology, created by aliens, which in of itself should create some kind of worldwide panic.

And the US has imposed sanctions and embargos on countries to get what it wants. They do so all the time.

[Simon_Jester]

Several factors in play here that you appear ignorant of.

1) Your notion that people will panic as soon as "alien technology" appears is unfounded. Historically, the sudden introduction of advanced technology has caused chaos, but only the chaos that directly results from the use of the technology (e.g. Maori with muskets and potatoes crushing their Maori rivals who had neither), or from the actions of the technology's suppliers (e.g. Cortez in Mexico). People don't just start rioting and freaking out randomly.

2) The US 'hoarded stealth technology...' yeeaah, you're missing a few key facts there.

2a) Stealth technology has NO non-military applications. The reason it's been straightforward to control it is because nobody except the military has an incentive to design planes invisible to radar. Therefore, there is no profit to be had from exporting the technology, except for the profit of selling stealth aircraft. And stealth aircraft are massively, stupidly expensive products that only a few corporations can make, and those corporations are arms manufacturers who are basically joined at the hip to the US government. This makes it pretty easy to decide who can and cannot market it.

2b) The US has been explicitly planning to sell the F-35 fighter, a stealth aircraft as good as any and superior to some, to a great many other nations, for at least the past 10-15 years. So your argument is basically wrong at first glance; the US hasn't hoarded the technology, or at least had ceased to do so by 2000 or 2005, no more than ten to fifteen years after it was first field-tested.

3) It is precisely because this complex of advanced technologies (though not necessarily better than what we'd have invented anyway by 2100) are "a game changer" that Japan would not have reason to try and squat on a pile of advanced technology hissing "my precioussss." They would profit vastly more from selling the fruits of the advanced technology, and from the rich trade relationships that result, than they would from the Gollum approach. Which is why real countries do not adopt the Gollum approach.

I sometimes think people who talk like you about international relations didn't learn anything from the 20th century.

3a) In 1899, most of the world was run by a handful of nations that did actively hoard their technology, in that they refused to export the machinery and factories which would make it possible to duplicate that technology. They'd sell the technology itself (i.e. rifles), but they'd never set up a rifle factory in their colonial possessions, unless they were supremely confident of being able to control the rifles. Moreover, in 1899, most interactions between nations had a higher level of force or threat of force behind them.

This sort of situation is also common in computer game portrayals of conflict, where there is a wide inherent gap between a "high-tech" nation with machine guns and semiconductor fabricators and a "low-tech" nation with spears and village blacksmiths. And where obscure conspiracies with access to unknown or alien technology are a routine occurrence. Technology is treated like sorcery, a secret hoarded by its practitioners.

3b) Two world wars and a Cold War later, things have changed in a profound, fundamental way I don't think some people really appreciate. By 1999, almost any country would sell almost any industrial technology it possessed, and in many cases, foreigners could adopt this technology and operate it more profitably than the original creators. The rise of "Made in Japan," "Made in Korea," "Made in China," and "Made in Taiwan" are great illustrations of this.

This has resulted in booming prosperity for much if not most of the world. Because technology does not work the way the games and other works of fiction I mentioned seem to think. Maintaining high technology requires cooperation, planning, complex logistics, and (this is important) a willingness to do what is effective. Relying only on your own nation's subjects and knowledge base is not effective, compared to being willing to talk to foreigners, share what you know, collaborate, and work out better ways to do the same thing.

[madd0ct0r]

Indeed. Hoarding the tech means only the owner's of production benefit.
Selling the tech means everyone who is a consumer benefits.

Question.
The Japanese super soldiers are clearly setup to fight something with a comparable tech level. Daesh isn't it. Should we be worried about some other force hostile to the japanese arriving?

[U.P. Cinnabar]

And, as others may have pointed out, there's no mention of any logistics support(other than fabricators and power cells) arriving with these troopers, just them and their gear. Do the fabricators have any support personnel attached to them? Do the troops in the field have armorers, mechanics, medics, and the like with them, because I can't see those troops lasting for long without someone to maintain their gear, and even fully-automatic factories need someone or something to maintain them(as well as to build them).

[Simon_Jester]

Indeed. Hoarding the tech means only the owner's of production benefit.
Selling the tech means everyone who is a consumer benefits.

Question.
The Japanese super soldiers are clearly setup to fight something with a comparable tech level. Daesh isn't it. Should we be worried about some other force hostile to the japanese arriving?

Oooh, good point. Who knows who the aliens will decide to arm with a hundred thousand brainwashed clone troopers in 22nd-century power armor next?

[U.P. Cinnabar]

Or who they intend to "liberate" the Earth from.

[APlayerHater]

1) Your notion that people will panic as soon as "alien technology" appears is unfounded. Historically, the sudden introduction of advanced technology has caused chaos, but only the chaos that directly results from the use of the technology (e.g. Maori with muskets and potatoes crushing their Maori rivals who had neither), or from the actions of the technology's suppliers (e.g. Cortez in Mexico). People don't just start rioting and freaking out randomly.

Well, more the fact that there are apparently aliens floating above earth, releasing armies of supersoldiers anywhere they want on a whim, and whose motivations are unknowable at best. They have apparently taken an interest in controlling global politics and wiping out ISIS. Who knows who they might go after next.

The greatest superpower in the history of the world has just appeared in outer space above the planet, choosing who lives and who dies by some alien rationale.

2b) The US has been explicitly planning to sell the F-35 fighter, a stealth aircraft as good as any and superior to some, to a great many other nations, for at least the past 10-15 years. So your argument is basically wrong at first glance; the US hasn't hoarded the technology, or at least had ceased to do so by 2000 or 2005, no more than ten to fifteen years after it was first field-tested.

I recalled reading an article somewhere that Australia was pissed the US was removing a lot of the stealth features from the f35s they were selling to other countries, but I can't seem to find it atm. Also, I think the US is going to want to get in on reverse engineering and controlling the market for this alien technology. And for reasons of national security, they're going to want to control who gets access to what.

The alien fabricators could be used to 3D print biological weapons on the cheap or the energy technology could be used to create a phone sized bomb that can blow up 5 city blocks. Who knows.

[APlayerHater]

Never mind that the aliens seem perfectly fine with cloning slave races with unbreakable mind control programming. They're just throwing a toddler a loaded gun to see what happens.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

Also, I think the US is going to want to get in on reverse engineering and controlling the market for this alien technology. And for reasons of national security, they're going to want to control who gets access to what.

Of course, backengineering something from a radically different technological and knowledge base is not going to happen overnight. It won't even happen a year after the fact. That will probably take decades, at best.

And, even if it is successfully backengineered, there's not going to be any cornering the market, especially if the US isn't the only one actively researching the technology, and how it works.

And, that's even assuming our alien "friends" up there don't have the final say on who has access to the technology, and what it can produce. It is, after all, their stuff.